“Give him the gift of discernment to know how to identify the ways of renewal of the church; give him the courage not to hesitate to follow the ways suggested by the Holy Spirit; support him in the hard hours of suffering to overcome with the charity the trials that the renewal of the church will bring,” the cardinal prayed May 13, the feast of Our Lady of Fatima.

“We consecrate to you, Our Lady, mother of the church, the ministry of the new pope,” he prayed. “Fill his heart with the tenderness of God that you experienced so that he can embrace all the men and women of our age with the love of your son Jesus Christ.”

Cardinal Policarpo recited the prayer, which he wrote himself, at the end of a Mass concluding a major international pilgrimage to Fatima for the feast day marking the 96th anniversary of the apparition of Mary to three children.

The Portuguese cardinal, who participated in the conclave that elected Pope Francis, said the new pope had asked him twice to consecrate his pontificate to Our Lady of Fatima. He also asked Mary to give Pope Francis “the desire to be a pilgrim to this shrine.”

But Pope Francis was not the only object of a special consecration during the mid-May pilgrimage; at a Mass May 12 at the Fatima shrine, Archbishop Orani Joao Tempesta of Rio de Janeiro entrusted to Mary all the young people who are preparing to attend World Youth Day in Rio with Pope Francis in July.

Respectfully, unless I am mistaken Pius XII did consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1952, but not in union with the other bishops of the world, i.e., he did not order them to join this act.

"Just as a few years ago We consecrated the entire human race to the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, so today We consecrate and in a most special manner We entrust all the peoples of Russia to this Immaculate Heart…"

I believe Pius XII did consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary exactly as Our Lady prophetically said the Holy Father was going to do.

"In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world”.

Our Lady asked for the consecration to be done with all the bishops of the world but as you can see, our Lady affirmed that "in the end, the Holy Father." and not the Holy Father and all the bishops of the world, was going to consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart.

Bl. John Paul ll ordered all the Bishops of the world in union with him, along with their Priests, along with the faithful to perform the act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary at all Sunday Masses on March 25, 1984. He used the word Entrustment which means the same as Consecrate. Because of the political dangers at the time he did not mention Russia by name, he consecrated, "The Nation of which this entrustment you have been awaiting". Sister Lucia in an apparition from Our Lady of Fatima was told by Our Lady that the Consecration was accepted by Heaven. Sister Lucia also stated to those who said this Consecration was not valid for various reasons that, "Our Lady gave no formula for the Consecration and it was up to the Holy Father's discretion. By the fact that Russia was implied Heaven accepted the Consecration". Our Lady had previously stated to sister Lucia that the Pope would in fact perform the Consecration but that "it would be late". The Consecration has already shown much fruit, Communism has fallen, the Faith in Russia is being revived. In the year of this Consecration the Holy Father granted the first indult for the Tridentine Mass. This sparked the great Traditionalist movement in the Church which pleased Bl. John Paul ll and Pope Bendict XVl. Let us continue to pray and offer sacrifices for sinners. Words from Pope Bendict XVl, "Patience on our part allows God to work, while impatience on our part destroys God's work". Great things are happening because of the Consecration accepted by Heaven, let us be patient.

In a brief interview outside her convent while voting in an election in the summer of 1987, Sr. Lucia confirmed to journalist Enrico Romero that the consecration had not been done. Her view was confirmed a few months later by Cardinal Paul Augustin Mayer in an audience with a dozen Catholic leaders, among them the Catholic journalist Victor Kulanday, and again by Cardinal Alfons Stickler a month after that. Cardinal Stickler maintained that the Pope had failed to perform the ceremony as requested because he lacked the necessary support from the world’s bishops. "They do not obey him," he explained.

Our Lady of Fatima asked for the Consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart by the Pope in union with all the Bishops of the world. Many Bishops were not and are not in union with the Holy Father. Pope Benedict XVl as Cardinal Ratzinger stated at one time that there were around 30 Bishops in the US that were not in union with the Holy Father. I remember the Consecration well. I thought it amazing that Bl. John Paul ll planned the Consecration in union with the Bishops in the manner he did. The Consecration was not performed in a short period of time. It lasted 24 Hours, at each and every second of those 24 hours a Bishop in union with the Pope, his Priests and Faithful were making the Consecration. The whole Church was storming Heaven with this Entrustment at every second of that day. The Holy Father said he made the Consecration and Sister Lucia said Heaven accepted it. Now we must cooperate with the Immaculate Heart of Our Mother Mary Most Holy, by obeying all she asked of us at Fatima. We may not see it but torrents of Graces have come from the Consecration, many souls have been snatched from eternal perdition. We must not expect to see spectacular things with our bodily eyes but with the eyes of Faith, through adoration of the Creator, with Trust and Hope and a greater love of God.

Not even Pope John Paul II believed he'd effectively consecrated Russia, for only hours after the 1984 Consecration, he prayed "for those people who still await your Consecration." Pope John Paul II tried multiple times and even gave up on it later. When you consecrate something, the object of consecration must be made clear and specific and solely. You do not baptize a child and only refer to the child vaguely amongst all the other children in the world. You do not anoint a king and avoid naming him and instead refer to every other monarchy similar to him. Consecration means to set something apart from the rest!

Sr. Lucia had been placed under an extreme vow of silence, she obeyed, and many things have been attributed to her as claiming the consecration was fulfilled in 1984, despite that everything leading up to it had been contradicted by her for the very exact same reasons. Why the about-turn?

The consecration of Russia requires:1) It be made publicly2) Russia be the sole object of the consecration (obviously!) to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.3) It be made in reparation for Russia's many grave sins against God.4) It be made by the Pope and all the world's bishops in union with him on the same day, perhaps even simultaneously if necessary.

There are two additional points I’d like to make… It’s been mysteriously hard for the Pope to get the bishops to join him; perhaps this is God trying to highlight from the onset, the disobedience of many bishops. The only way this is going to be accomplished is if the Pope does what God wants - to exercise his Petrine Authority! God is testing His Church. The Pope must not request, but command, the world's bishops to join him in obedience to the Vicar of Christ, or else face automatic excommunication. This will show us which Bishops truly stand in union with the Supreme Pontiff, and has the added benefit of purging us of the ones who don't. If we’d done this years ago, I doubt we’d be encountering the same problems we face today to such an extent.The second point is "why Russia?" Well obviously at the time, nay even before the world had even realized it, Russian Communism would be an explicit example of ungodliness and its consequences.

Some here have the mistaken notion that simply because Russia is no longer a communist nation and is democratic, that everything is fine. No! Russia is a VERY secular nation. The only reason the government is working together with the Russian Orthodox Church is out of desperation! Russia is a nation of widespread alcoholism, severe abortion, the child-porn capital of the world and the Catholic Church is virtually non-existent!!! Anyone actually believe that the Queen of Heaven who hates heresies only meant that Russia would be a nation of democratic secularist? She would settle for nothing less than a full blown moral Catholic Confessional State! Observe what happened in Guadalupe, and what happened in Portugal after the bishops obeyed her and in union consecrated the nation to her Immaculate Heart! The Masonic Socialist regime fell, the country transformed into a Catholic confessional State! MIRACLES HAPPEN PEOPLE!

Besides Our Lady of Fatima didn't care about the system of government of the people of Russia! She was concerned about their ideologies! She said that unless Russia is converted, it's ERRORS would spread around the whole world! The whole world would gradually turn communist! When this question was posed to Sr. Lucia, she said this was so! When asked if that even meant the United States of America, she also said, "YES!" Look around you! Who is running the European Union? What kind of man is running the United States? Does the world respect the value of human life? Sexual morality? Desire for more socialism??? Is there any respect for the Catholic Church or religion? The dreaded prophecies about the errors of Russian Communism are ALL coming TRUE! They live and thrive in the 'democracies' of the West!

The Popes should've feared God more than they should've feared the Russians! Instead they caved to the politics of the world and refused to denounce Communism explicitly at Vatican II in exchange for observers! We are ecumenistic now! We disobeyed God's polite 'request', and now bishops and Catholics disobey the Pope's polite 'requests'! We feared the world more than we feared God, and now the world is out to destroy us! Many ex-Catholic organizations obfuscate and twist and distort the truth and Church teachings for their own liberal ends! We deny the most Holy Woman's protection and Motherly love, and now mothers and children are victims the world over, vehicles for destruction of life and ethics!

Shall the Pope follow the example of the Kings of France who delayed consecrating the nation to Christ and thus fell to the hands of the enlightened masonic revolutionaries? Have we not learned from Biblical History that whenever God explicitly tells someone to do something, and we imagine we can do it our own way other than the way that God wants, that we shall still receive the results He promised?

Many things have been attributed to conspiracy theories concerning the Consecration. Sister Lucia herself wrote to the Holy Father on how a certain Priest was putting words in her mouth that she never said. Rome took action and so did Sister Lucia's Superior. That priest because of his actions is on the fourth and last stage of being excommunicated. I believe we should believe the Holy Father and Sister Lucia and not rely on conspiracy theories which have no bases. Sister Lucia was asked why Russia was not immediately converted in a spectacular manner. She answered that the people of Russia have a God given free will and it is up to them. When asked about Portugal and Our Lady's protection, Sister Lucia answered with a warning, "Portugal has its own sins". According to Rome there were many more apparitions of Our Lady to Sister Lucia, but nothing new apart from what Sister Lucia already has revealed. My understanding is that Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone revealed what the Our Lady said in the other apparitions, but so far it is only available in Italian. What for God's sake are we going to believe?

Bertone's book has been shown to be filled with contradictions and errors as exposed by journalists like Antonio Socci, and many others and even contradicted by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in statements regarding the Fatima messages. Sr. Lucia had an extremem vow of silence imposed on her, never lifted even after the supposed 1984 consecration. No one was allowed to talk to her to verify anything attributed to her nor ask her why after years of insisting that the consecration be done in a specific way after multiple failed attempts that suddenly the 1984 consecration was acceptable for the same reasons.

Conspiracies exist and you've got the biggest perpetrator and liar of them all behind this one. Don't be naive to the treachery of the Devil. The conspiracy has a basis, starting with the fact that a seemingly simple request to have the Pope and Bishops (who should be obeying him) consecrate a specific nation in a 5 minute public ceremony is for some unfathomable reason an incredibly hard and impossible thing. Why? It's as someone else put it, we've taken time to have consecrated practically everything else from world youth to the environment to animals except for Russia. And the excuse is putting politics and ecumenism before God. Funny how we can't follow a simple instruction from God, and now one of the biggest problems in the Church is priests and bishops unable to follow requests form the Pope nor even be capable of following the black and red of the liturgy. We're all doing our own thing, all we like sheep going each one in his own way. The irony is thick as butter.

My impression of Our Lady's words regarding the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart is that the effects of that consecration would be apparent to all. There wouldn't be all this confusion as to whether or not the consecration had been made. There wouldn't be this wondering about whether the effects of the consecration will be visible in a globally noticeable way or whether we should just be grateful if one in a thousand Russian citizens "amend their lives" in some generic way that has nothing to do with whether they become Catholic or not. Plenty of Catholic prelates will see "conversion" as nothing more than the end of Communism and a renewed interest in social justice issues. Few, I think, expect or even want Russia to be converted to the Catholic faith.

If Bl. John Paul ll made the Consecration stating that it was his intention to do what Our Lady requested, and Sister Lucia said Heaven accepted it. Then why do we ask for something which already has been done. Sister Lucia had permission from Rome and her Superior to grant interviews to those allowed to interview her. Even after the Consecration. Sister Lucia received letters from the faithful from around the world. She said because she could not answer to each personaly, she wrote the answers to all the question asked of her. Today it is in book form, permitted by Rome called in English "Calls". It is then evident that this theory that she was ordered to be completely silent is debunked. It was some years after the consecration that that one certain priest who had almost blanket permission to interview her anytime, was then forbidden by Rome to ever interview Sister Lucia again. Sr. Lucia granted him interviews under obedience. It was Sister Lucia who through her Bishop made it known to the Holy Father that this priest was putting words in her mouth and causing great damage to the purity of the Fatima message. So this also debunks the theory that she was extremely silenced. After that, Rome took precautions and only with the permission of Rome was she allowed to be interviewed by anyone else. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone was sent many times to Coimbra to interview Sister Lucia at the orders of Bl. John Paul ll. The book that was published concerning the other apparitions has only been available in Italian to my knowledge. I have hoped that it would be published in English. That priest who tarnished the Fatima message is still at it, and is facing excommunication. It was he who started the many conspiracy theories. And now because of him many of the Faithful are demanding a Consecration that has already been done. He has smeared Rome with his theories that Rome and the Masons plotted against the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima. It is sad that one single priest could cause so much damage by leading so many away from the true messages and causing others to ignore what Our Lady asked of us. I won't hesitate to say that the author of all these conspiracy theories is the evil one himself. In October of 1984 the great Traditionalist movement began and I attribute it to the Consecration of March 25, 1984. We have been very instrumental in the "Reform of the Reforms". We have done much for the restoration of the Latin Tridentine Mass and the restoration of the True Catholic faith. This is in no small part the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary unfolding. Immaculate Heart od Mary Ora Pro Nobis!

That particular priest you blame without seeing his evidence - Fr. Gruner - is still a priest in good standing and even has been cleared by his bishop of such charges as you bring against him and has the support of many in Rome as well, because the things he brings up makes sense and he has been allowed to continue unhindered in his work. Look it up.

As others have mentioned and with what is clear to everyone who accepts clear truth and fact - no consecration of Russia was ever done except as part of a general 'World Consecration' and without teh p[articipation of the Bishops. Sr. Lucia had said many times that God would accept any consecrations, even those by Pope Pius XII who had difficulty doing it, and that these consecrations would be valid and would produce many benefits, but they would NOT be what God specifically asked for and therefore would not fulfill the conditions God said He would provide. So it is clear to all that the Popes and Church as a whole have been disobedient or helpless to fulfill it because they bowed to human reason rather than placing their trust in God.

Cardinal Bertone has been exposed by many for his errors and contradictions. His book, contains a scant few details of an interview he had had with Lucia that lasted more than 2 hours. Finally, as you said, only approved people were allowed to interview Sr. Lucia by the Vatican. No one else could cross examine her.

And even if they wanted to prevent people from harassing her, why didn't the authorized few ever ask her the questions that the sceptics bring up? Such as why she would now in 1984 from words attributed to her and from letters of questionable origin; given she always hand wrote and didn't know how to use a typewriter or computer and the letters contain contradictions and incorrect dates and personal things she would never get wrong; would all of a sudden do a 180 degree turn on many things she had insisted the consecration to be to the point of going out of her way to write to and meet Pope after Pope year after year, failed consecration after failed consecration, to ensure that it was done as Heaven asked even to teh point of Christ Himself appearing to her to warn the Popes not to delay or else they would suffer the consequences.

Furthermore, it's all well and good that the traditionalist movement is nicely underway with a long long road ahead of it, but it is a scant contrast to the miraculous conversions of Portugal and even Guadalupe. So I ask you, do you think the Virgin Mary is incapable of fulfilling the conversion of Russia? Or is it you reducing the power and ability of God and the clear words of Mary to justify the failure of men in the Church hierarchy to comply?

Finally, you miss the biggest issue - the ERRORS of Communism, that have spread, thrive and are celebrated worldwide, in America, in Europe and now spreads its tentacles to the remainder of the world by U.N. fiat and at the behest of the American political machine and even widespread in the Church as well amongst the pews, the colleges and universities, the local diocese offices the 'catholic' press etc. Sorry, but Our Lady warned these things would occur if Russia were not consecrated, and its errors clearly denounced. And all this is coming to pass at an alarming rate that fars outguns and outmans the traditionalist movement. So no, anyone with any sense would see the clear path the world has taken, and that is what is at issue.

To reduce the promises of Fatima to what you claim it to be is the same reductionist logic sceptics apply to the Biblical Miracles and Judgments of God and even to the Cross and Ressurection. Face it, we have lost faith in the God of miracles and now interpret everything through mere human effort and logic as you have, and ironically so has much of the post Vatican II Church which placed its hopes on secular democracy and the U.N. as the champion of the Gospel and world peace and we've seen how that worked out.

Pope Francis, on page 117 of his book on Heaven and Earth, made a statement that makes it clear he believes as long as same-sex sexual unions are of a private nature, are not called Marriage, and no children are involved, these relationships do not affect Society. This is a lie from the start, as to condone same-sex sexual unions, is to condone sexual behavior that demeans the inherent personal and relational Dignity of the human person, created in The Image and Likeness of God. One cannot be in communion with Christ's One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, if one supports same-sex sexual behavior. There is enough evidence to prove that something is not right in The Vatican and the election of Pope Francis is not valid.

The Denial of The Filioque is the source of all heresy, for if it is true that there is only One Son of God, The Word of Love Made Flesh, Our Savior, Jesus The Christ, there can be only One Spirit of Love Between The Father and The Son, in The Perfect Communion of Love that is The Blessed Trinity.

Denial that Pope Francis was validly elected is also a lie, Nancy. Popes can and have erred in opinion, even been living scandalous lives with many mistresses and children out of wedlock (much evidence of this in history) but this does not make them invalidly elected. They still have had the protection of The Holy Spirit to not err in ex-cathedra statements, where the deposit of faith has never been diminished. Pope Francis was elected by two thirds majority after Pope Benedict XVI resigned with full freedom. That is enough to make Pope Francis our Holy Father and he needs our prayers and encouragement.Perhaps you will be heartened by the fact that Pope Francis has consecrated his pontificate to Our Lady of Fatima, and that he asked 97 year old Archbishop Capovilla (John XXIII's former secretary who confirmed the pontiff opened the third secret) to come to meet him in Rome.